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San Diego Zoo (June 2009)
Alfred Tang
Visiting Scholar Physics Department Chinese University of Hong Kong Shatin, NT Hong KongEmail address: [email protected]
I am a nuclear and particle physicist. Before I became a physicist, I had formal training in theology and philosophy. I am a very serious scientist but have always tried to be a bridge of the scientific and theological worlds.
On the science side, my professional research interests are focused on neutrino physics and scientific supercomputing at the moment. I am currently using the IBM BlueGene/P supercomputer at Argonne National Lab in Chicago to do my research. In the past, I had also worked on hadron physics, quantum chromodynamics and cosmology. My current work in geoneutrino physics has a strong interdisciplinary flavor and the potential to answering important questions in geology and in applications leading to nuclear non-proliferation. By the way of a new direction, I am investigating the possibility of conducting biological research using the supercomputer.
Most people think that science and theology are completely unrelated. Although science and theology seem to answer different sets of questions, the two are inter-related on the deepest level. The Apostle Paul said, "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--has been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse" (Romans 1:20). The idea is that God can be understood in a general way from a careful study of Nature, which basically is what we call science today. Philosopher Dallas Willard has also said something very similar: "What life is can only be decided as the cosmos and our understanding of it develops. The dimensions and powers of matter and life in the case of any specific type of living organism are something that can only be ascertained by bold and imaginative experimentation and observation as free from prejudgment as possible. The belief that people cannot live in constant union with the spiritual God throughout their daily life shall one day appear as odd as the belief that metal bodies cannot float on water or fly through the air. We must simply observe the living subject under all possible conditions to understand it deeply. For the matters at issue, that means that we human beings must lead our lives before God in an open, adventurous, and reflective manner. Only then shall we find what is actually possible for us as physical organisms. The wise words of Archbishop William Temple are: 'We only know what matter is when spirit dwells in it; we only know what man is when God dwells in him'" [Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives (New York, Harper One: 1988), 78].
Link to my teaching philosophy
Link to my theological writings
For the physicists who are working on muon simulation: Download GMUSIC (Generic MUSIC Codes) to simulate muons inside a detector underneath an arbitrary mountain profile. In UNIX/LINUX, unpack the tarball by typing "tar zxvf gmusic.tgz" at the prompt. It will create a directory called "gmusic" with all the components unpacked in it. Follow the directions in the README file to compile and run.
I like photography. Below are some sample pictures: